Beautifully crafted stories of psychotherapy—told for the first time from the perspective of the therapist

In her long career as a psychotherapist, acclaimed author Lillian Rubin occasionally encountered patients who demanded a very special, even unorthodox, therapeutic approach. For the first time, Dr. Rubin tells the

stories of her most fascinating, most challenging case, "from the other side of the couch," focusing not just on the patient, but on her own inner process as she confronts the issues each case raises. Each of the seven stories she tells is a moving journey into the human psyche, from the secret life of "The Woman Who Wasn't" or the extreme regression of "The White Hat" to the smoldering rage of "The Man with the Beautiful Voice." Through these captivating tales, and in a thought-provoking introduction, Dr. Rubin illuminates the process of therapy and how it works, especially when rules need to be bent or even broken. For anyone who has been in therapy, or even wondered what happens behind those tightly sealed doors, this book offers a gift of insight.

"This daring and engrossing book offers a unique gift to readers: a window into the mind and the heart of both sides of the therapeutic relationship—the patient's and the therapist's. Only a writer and thinker as agile as Lillian Rubin could offer such compelling stories that tell us so much about the process of pain and healing for both patient and therapist."

—Kim Chernin, author of The Hungry Self

Lillian B. Rubin is the author of eleven books including Tangled Lives, Worlds of Pain, Intimate Strangers, and Just Friends. A sociologist and psychotherapist, Dr. Rubin has been a senior research associate at the Institute for the Study of Social Change at the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in San Francisco.

"In her writing Rubin employs an efficient and deliberate--though not dry--narrative style peppered with keen insight and good humor. Each of these seven case studies stands alone as a unique, self-contained story that will have the reader rooting for what Rubin calls the "aha" moment, the "beginning of knowing" that marks a breakthrough in psychotherapy."

In her long career as a psychotherapist, acclaimed author Lillian Rubin occasionally encountered patients who demanded a very special, even unorthodox, therapeutic approach. For the first time, Dr. Rubin tells the stories of her most fascinating, most challenging cases, "from the other side of the couch" focusing not just on the patient, but on her own inner process as she confronts the issues each case raises

For the first time, Dr. Rubin tells the stories of her most fascinating, most challenging cases, "from the other side of the couch" focusing not just on the patient, but on her own inner process as she confronts the issues each case raises.

Lillian B. Rubin is the author of eleven books including Tangled Lives, Worlds of Pain, Intimate Strangers, and Just Friends. A sociologist and psychotherapist, Dr. Rubin has been a senior research associate at the Institute for the Study of Social Change at the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in San Francisco.